BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -Thousands of genocide survivors protested in Sarajevo yesterday, demanding a special administrative status for the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, saying it shouldn't be run by the Serbians living in Bosnia who committed genocide there.

Protesters carried banners saying "Justice for all," and demanded Srebrenica no longer be part of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "the RS entity", but to become an independent district within Bosnia.

"We are waiting for 12 years for the problem of the RS to be solved, for this criminal organization to be dismantled," said Kada Hotic, a Srebrenica survivor who lost her husband and son in the massacre.

During the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia,the Serbian aggressor overran the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995 and slaughtered up to 10,000 Bosnian men and boys. The peace agreement left the country divided into the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "the RS entity" and the FBIH entity. Srebrenica ended up within the the Serbian genocidal creature in Bosnia.

After the war, thousands of Bosnians returned to Srebrenica but describe life there as hard and humiliating. At the beginning of March, the returnees called for a change in the Bosnian constitution to erase the ethnic division of the country, claiming it was impossible to live in a town that offers few jobs and where perpetrators of genocide still live.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague declared in February that the illegal army (VRS) and police (MUP RS) of the Serbians living in Bosnia committed genocide in Srebrenica. The genocide survivors base their claim for exemption of Srebrenica from the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia on this court verdict.

Serbians living in Bosnia vehemently oppose any change of the status of the town or of the ethnic division of the country that was ensured by the peace agreement, fearing they might loose the genocidal creature "the RS entity" they fought for. They said they were ready to invest in the town to improve living conditions for the Bosnian returnees, but won't allow any change of its administrative status or the constitution.

The idea of changing the Bosnian constitution is supported by forces of Bosnians and Croatians who seek to unify the entire country,but the International officials are ignoring the ICJ verdict.They have underlined that a change of the constitution can only be achieved through an agreement among the main ethnic groups in Bosnia.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - A bus carrying Americans to a Catholic shrine in southern Bosnia collided with another vehicle yesterday, injuring 27 American passengers and the Bosnian bus driver.

"We are currently accessing the injuries and all I can say now is that three people sustained serious injuries, possibly life-threatening," said Dr. Lidija Lincender of Sarajevo's Kosevo hospital.

The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia said the American group were from Wisconsin.Twenty of the injured were hospitalized in the Kosevo hospital, and another seven were taken to the General Hospital, the U.S. embassy said.

Bosnian police said the bus, which had been carrying 34 passengers, collided with another vehicle in Tarcin, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Sarajevo. No details about the accident could be released because an investigation was under way, police said.

The U.S.Embassy said the bus passengers had been on their way to the southern Bosnian town of Medjugorje, where millions of Catholics have visited a shrine since 1981, when six children said they began seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The Medjugorje apparition has not been officially recognized by the Catholic Church.

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The wreckage of the Bosnian-owned tourist bus transporting American tourists is seen in a river near the Bosnian town of Tarcin, June 11, 2007. A bus carrying Americans to a Catholic shrine in southern Bosnia collided with another vehicle, injuring 27 American tourists and the Bosnian bus driver. The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia said the American group were from Wisconsin.

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Rachel Rinke of Jackson from Wisconsin,USA,,sits in a wheelchair in Sarajevo hospital as she waits further medical treatment after a Bosnian-owned tourist bus which was transporting American tourists rolled over near the Bosnian town of Tarcin, some 20 kilometers south of Sarajevo.

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SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The number of trafficking victims in Bosnia has slightly increased compared to the last year’s statistics, and that is why it is necessary to continue the trafficking fight activities and activities for reduction of illegal immigration through strengthening of institutional frame and promotion of cooperation at the international level.

This was stated in a report on trafficking and illegal immigration in Bosnia and the report on implementation of the Action plan for fight against trafficking and illegal immigration in Bosnia for 2006, proposed by the Bosnian Ministry of Safety. Both the reports were adopted by the Bosnian Council of Ministers.Institutional capacities have developed well in the past few years, as well as the legal frame, prevention activities, criminal prosecution and standards. Apart from the progress, trafficking is still present in Bosnia and it changes its shapes and adapts to the new circumstances.

The number of foreign trafficking victims has decreased in Bosnia, but the number of domestic victims increased.According to the Report, Bosnia signed 15 international agreements on readmission, cooperation, police cooperation and started the procedure for signing another 35 agreements in the field.

Bosnia has started and entered several international projects against trafficking. Several laws were adopted and Foreign Citizens’ Service became operative. The analyses show that in 2006 71 victims of trafficking were registered: 31 from Bosnia, 22 from Serbia and Montenegro, 6 from Moldova, 4 from Ukraine, 2 from Bulgaria and per one person from Switzerland, Russia and Romania.

The data also shows that in 2006 34 reports were submitted against the people involved in trafficking, charging 77 persons. 18 prison sentences and 2 monetary sentences were determined.

48.540.884 persons were registered crossing the Bosnian borders in 2006 on the entrance, and 23.786.096 on the exit, which is a decrease per 331.939 persons.

100 persons were deported from Bosnia in 2006, which is per 66,6 per cent higher compared to 2005.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The technical meeting of the Civil-Military Emergency Planning of the Southeast European Council (CMEP SEE) started in Ilidza yesterday.The meeting represents a part of international obligations of Bosnia towards the regional initiative of Civil-Military Emergency Planning, of which Bosnia is it the chair this year.

The technical meeting will last until June 13. Sixty representatives from 15 Southeast European countries and the Black Sea Initiative will take part in it. The organisation and activities of national civil defence systems in various disaster situations will be presented at the meeting.

“The objective is to agree the planning of a simulation exercise for the region of SE Europe for emergencies and major crisis situations caused by natural or some other event of catastrophic proportions” Head of the Department for Structure and Training in the Sector for Civil Defence of the Bosnian Ministry of Security Samir Huseinbasic said.

He added that the exercise has been designed so as to allow all member states to communicate through the operational centre with the country, which for the purposes of the exercise has been supposedly hit by a natural or some other catastrophe.

The meeting will define details which will be considered at the final workshop/meeting of Southeast European Initiative member states, as Bosnia is to hand over the chairmanship to Turkey in December.

Integrating activities in the field of protection and rescue systems in Southeast European and Black Sea Initiative countries is very important and represents a step forward in the establishment of better cooperation and communication in the field of protection and rescue, as well as civil-military coordination.The simulation exercise will be held in Bulgaria in September.

CAPLJINA,Bosnia – The 27th World Club Championship in Sport Fishing opened at the Nature Park in Hutovo Blato near the southern Bosnian town of Capljina with participation of 25 teams.

President of the Word Fishing Federation Claudio Ugo Matteoli opened the Championship, congratulating the organizers for great efforts invested in organizing the competition.

Zeljko Komsic,a member of the Bosnian Presidency said that the 27th World Club Championship in Sport Fishing is the biggest international sport competition in Bosnia since the 1984 Winter Olympics.

The World Championship in Sport Fishing is the affirmation of sport, fishing, Hutovo Blato, Municipality Capljina, as well as the entire Bosnia, which has enough to show to the world, said Komsic, who is also the President of the Organizing Board of the Championship.

The FBiH Entity Prime Minister Nedzad Brankovic said that his government has recognized the important of this competition and invested the substantial funds in its organization.

Approx. 2, 5 million Bosnian Marks was invested in organizing the Championship under auspices of the Bosnian Presidency, while the FBiH entity government is the main sponsor.